Inspiration plus Perspiration:
Once upon a time I thought that good art was made by people who somehow magically just put it together, like the wave of a wand. Somehow their art was created by a mysterious mix of inspiration and innate giftedness.
I was under that illusion for most of my life. It wasn’t until about ten years ago that I was taught how to draw and paint. I learned that there were basic preparatory steps to be taken which required time and practice. When I applied these basic steps, my work became more satisfying – and my confidence developed accordingly.
I recently read about a study by psychologist Anders Ericsson, who with colleagues at Berlin’s Academy of Music, compared the performances of amateur and professional pianists. The results of the study showed that while amateur pianists practiced for about 2,000 hours over the course of their career, the professional pianists had practiced for 10,000 hours.
This leads me to believe that even if we have a relatively small amount of innate talent, if we have the interest in a goal or project and are willing to dedicate time and practice to achieving it, we have a huge chance of sparkling success.
The following words are attributed to Michelangelo, “if people knew how hard I worked to gain my mastery it wouldn’t seem so wonderful after all” (Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni : 1475 – 1564).
And Margaret Atwood shares her own version of this: “Any form of human creativity is a process of doing it and getting better at it. You become a writer by writing, there is no other way. So it, do it more, do it better. Fail. Fail better”. M. Atwood, (1939 -)
Maybe what I used to think was mysterious and magical was actually just good old- fashioned effort and commitment. Or maybe good old-fashioned effort and commitment is actually what produces the magic.